


Embers

by WarpingAshes



Series: Fire Burns [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, Transformer Sparklings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:19:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23136043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarpingAshes/pseuds/WarpingAshes
Summary: Rodimus and Drift are sent to check out a distress signal and come back with a little surprise...
Series: Fire Burns [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661437
Comments: 10
Kudos: 46





	Embers

The distress signal came from the moon. It was unusual, to say the least, and it had taken hours to decide what to do about it. Prowl had stressed how this reeked of a Decepticon trap. There had been no Autobot vessels picked up on their scanners, no communication with the ship prior to the distress signal, and no ships scheduled to come anywhere near Earth or its moon. It didn’t paint a good picture, and Prowl’s concerns were valid. While Optimus listened to his friend's concern, he decided to send a team to the moon anyways.

Prowl had been livid. The only thing that calmed him down was Optimus promising that he himself wouldn’t lead the mission, and that if they were going to do this they’d be extremely careful. So that’s how Optimus ended up sending Rodimus and Drift to scout Earth’s moon and try to see if the ship was in genuine need of help or if it was all a trap.

They were to determine what the situation was, and if extra help was needed Optimus had a team ready to join them. If it was a trap, they were to get out before being spotted. It was playing it safe, but with how violent Megatron had been in attacks lately it was extremely necessary to act with caution.

Rodimus and Drift’s ship landed on the moon some distance away from the target. So far no Con sightings, but they both knew that could change in an instant. They made their way to where the ship was, doing their best to keep an eye out for signs of a trap, but as they drew closer and the ship was in view they found...nothing. No signs of a trap, or Decepticons in the area. But at the same time...no Autbots, either.

Rodimus let his guard down, just a little bit.

“Alright this is getting spooky.” He muttered as they approached the ship.

“You’re telling me…”

Drift paused once they got to the ship, noticing now how beaten up it looked. It was scratched up and dented to hell and back, one of its thrusters even appeared to have been blown off. It was a miracle the ship didn’t seem to have outright crashed on the moon.

“I think the ship just barely got away from a pretty intense battle.” He said, mostly thinking out loud, “But that doesn’t explain why they didn’t call for help sooner or why we haven’t seen anyone since we got here…”

“Uhh I might have some answers to that!” Rodimus called from the other side of the ship. Drift made his way over to his friend, freezing when he was met with a giant hole in the side of the ship, stained with energon. “I don’t think they got away from the battle. I think the battle followed them here and they sent the distress signal when it was already way too late.”

There was an uncomfortable silence as Rodimus poked his head through the large hole, getting a glimpse of the damage left from the battle. Drift shifted where he stood, ready to grab for his sword if Rodimus indicated there might be any enemies left aboard.

“Do you see anything?” He asked quietly.

“Yeah. Corpses.” Rodimus pulled back, frowning. “We didn’t make it in time.”

Drift sighed heavily, optics closing in a silent prayer for those who had passed.

“We should tell Optimus.” The white mech suggested. “And check for survivors.”

“Already on it.”

Rodimus led the way inside the ship, talking to Optimus over comms while the two searched for any signs of life left. Every new room they entered, every hallway they ventured down, every corner of the ship pointed to no survivors. They found corpses everywhere, their energon staining the floors and walls. From what Drift could tell, the crew hadn’t been prepared for the fight at all. He figured the Decepticons had ambushed them, making quick work of the crew and leaving once they were pleased with the carnage they’d left behind.

Rodimus wrapped up with Optimus just as the pair were met with a split in the hallway.

“How’d he take the news?” Drift asked.

“He seemed pretty upset. I think he blames himself for not acting fast enough…”

“There was nothing any of us could have done to stop this.” Drift muttered. “It’s pretty obvious they didn’t have time to react to what was happening. By the time they hit that distress signal, the Cons were already on board.”

“You’re probably right…” Rodimus said, sighing. “We should split up here. We’ll cover more ground and get off this nightmare ship quicker. Just shout if you find someone who’s alive. Not that you will.”

Rodimus took the left hall and Drift took the right. It seemed the back half of the ship hadn’t seen as much of the battle, which made for some slightly better scenery as Drift searched the halls. If someone had managed to make it this far back during the fight, maybe they could have lived, but Drift kept his expectations low.

He was about to turn around when he noticed a pool of energon beneath one of the shut doors in the hallway. Another corpse, no doubt, but something made Drift feel like he should open the door and check anyways. He couldn’t place why, but the room gave off some kind of _aura_ that told Drift he’d regret it if he didn’t check.

Drift walked up to the door, noticing it was cracked ever so slightly. He inhaled sharply and moved to pry open the door the rest of the way. The door moved to reveal yet another corpse, like Drift had expected, but there was something else about the room. Drift took one step inside, then froze when he heard something move.

_:Drift, I’m done here. Let’s meet back up and get out, this place is giving me the creeps.:_

Rodimus commed him suddenly, causing Drift to jump. His reaction caused whatever was in the room with him to move again, and Drift reached for his sword just in case.

“Hello?” He managed to keep his voice steady despite the uneasy atmosphere, “Who’s there?”

He was met with a quiet whine from somewhere deeper in the room.

“Are you injured?”

_:Drift? You there buddy?:_

Drift ignored Rodimus comm, instead speaking to the mystery person he had found.

“Hello?”

Just movement, and a small thump. Drift swallowed heavily and carefully stepped over the corpse in front of him so he could search the room properly. He kept an audial out for noise that would give away where the mystery person was. It was odd though-- he should have been able to see a normal sized bot by now. Maybe it was a minibot? Too injured to speak?

Movement to his left caught his attention. He was faced with a desk and cabinet that seemed to have fallen over in front of it. Was the minibot trapped because of the cabinet? ...Or was it a trap?

_:Drift can you answer me, you’re freaking me out.:_

_:I think I found someone, Roddy.:_

_:You_ **_think_ ** _? Drift, be careful.:_

Drift carefully made his way to the cabinet, hearing the thumping noise again. He held his breath as he quickly moved it out of the way. With the cabinet gone, he could see what had been trapped underneath the desk. It certainly wasn’t a regular bot, but it wasn’t a minibot either. It was a sparkling.

“Oh _Primus…_ ” Drift breathed, leaning down and scooping up the little sparkling as carefully as he could. The sparkling whined, seeming scared.

_:Rodimus you need to get here right now.:_

_:I’m on my way. Are you ok?:_

_:I’m fine, just hurry.:_

The sparkling whimpered in Drift’s hold, and he felt his own spark weep for the poor thing.

“Hey little guy, it’s ok…” He said softly, “You’re safe. Nothing’s gonna hurt you now.”

The sparkling didn’t seem convinced by his words, so Drift tried his best to calm his aura and field to soothe the sparkling. That seemed to work better, and the little guy relaxed ever so slightly.

“Drift?” Drift heard Rodimus’ voice echo down the hallway.

Drift moved carefully, not wanting to startle the sparkling, and went to meet up with Rodimus so they could figure out just what they were going to do with the little survivor.

“Rodimus, I’m here!” He called as he reached the door.

Rodimus rushed over to him, worry written all over his face. The sparkling shifted in Drift’s hand and the movement was enough for Rodimus to notice it and freeze in his tracks.

“Whoa, is that…?”

“A sparkling. I have no idea how he survived, but...he did.” Drift said, lifting the sparkling just a bit. Rodimus leaned in, taken aback by just how _small_ it was. He fit almost perfectly in Drift’s palm. The sparkling looked at Rodimus, big, bright blue optics filled with curiosity.

“He’s so...tiny…” Rodimus said quietly. “How did you _find_ him?”

“I heard him moving around from where he was trapped. I think he was trying to get out…” Drift frowned a bit. “He would’ve died underneath that desk if no one hit the distress signal. We never would’ve come here and he would’ve starved…”

“But we _are_ here and you found him.” Rodimus placed a hand comfortingly on Drift’s shoulder, giving him a small smile. “You saved him.”

“I got lucky.” Drift insisted. “We should get him back to Ratchet. I don’t know if he’s hurt.”

Rodimus nodded and began leading the way back to their ship. Drift focused on the sparkling as the pair walked, noticing how nervous he seemed as they walked down the halls, how he seemed to try to get closer to Drift despite already being held right to Drift’s chest. Drift wondered how aware the sparkling was. He wondered if, even if maybe he couldn’t understand fully, he still somehow knew a tragedy had occurred.

The sparkling seemed to settle down once they got back to Drift and Rodimus’ ship. Rodimus quickly started the ship up and opened a call to base. Jazz picked up, but Rodimus could see Prowl was close by, working on something just behind Jazz.

He wondered how Prowl would react to news of the sparkling…

“Yo.” Jazz said in greeting. “Find anything on the ship?”

“You could say that…” Rodimus looked over to where Drift sat with the sparkling, just out of view of the call. “The ship looked like it was ambushed, I think, and there were pretty much just bodies everywhere, but Drift found one survivor.”

“One’s better than none.” Jazz said, but sounded a bit saddened to hear the number was so low.

“Yeah, about that…” Rodimus motioned for Drift to come closer so Jazz could see. The white mech obliged, and Rodimus stepped out of the way. “Let’s just hope Ratchet remembers how to deal with _smaller_ patients.”

“Holy--” Jazz’s mouth hung open in shock. “Ok. _That’s_ unexpected. Might be a bit of a problem, but not a big one.”

“He’s too small to be a _big_ problem.” Rodimus teased.

Prowl decided that was a good time to turn around and get involved in the call. He walked up from behind Jazz, muttering something about _‘that ridiculous look’_ on Jazz’s face, but he didn’t look any less surprised when he spotted the sparkling himself.

“This isn’t possible.” Prowl said sternly. “That’s a sparkling.”

“Sure is, Prowler.” Jazz said, turning his head to look at Prowl over his shoulder. He just barely stifled a laugh. “You look like you’ve never seen a sparkling before!”

“I haven’t in a _couple million years,_ Jazz!” Prowl snapped. “There’s a war going on, _that_ shouldn’t be possible!”

“Shouldn’t be, but there it is anyways.” Jazz turned back to Drift and Rodimus. “We’ll get Ratchet up to date on his new...patient.”

“Gotcha. See you guys soon.” Rodimus said and ended the call.

Drift leaned back in his seat, an amused expression over his face.

“How much do you wanna bet Prowl flips a table before we get back.”

Rodimus let out a laugh, and set course for the base on Earth. Drift held the sparkling the entire way back, not wanting it to feel anxious or upset again. As the time passed, he and Rodimus chatted about the little guy, bouncing off ideas and theories as to how a mech or femme could’ve had a sparkling during the war. Wartime protocols were supposed to make it impossible, but Drift guessed that there were glitches in every system, even ones as intense as those. Besides, the _how_ didn’t really matter anymore.

The sparkling was _there._ Now they had to find a way to keep it safe.

When they arrived back on base, they realized word of the sparkling had traveled fast. Jazz and Optimus were waiting for them, but many other bots could be seen lingering about, likely trying to get look at the first sparkling anyone had seen in around four million years.

“Ratchet is waiting in the medbay,” Optimus said in lieu of a greeting. “How is the sparkling?”

“He’s fine. He didn’t seem upset during the way back.” Rodimus replied.

Optimus nodded, but Drift and Rodimus could tell he seemed worried. While they all made their way to the medbay, Rodimus decided to fill him in on the few details they had about the sparkling, hoping to ease their leader’s mind a bit. Rodimus tried to emphasize that the sparkling seemed really relaxed and even kind of happy since they’d found him. Optimus allowed himself to relax a bit at that.

Once they reached Ratchet, the sparkling was taken and immediately checked for any sign of physical injury. Drift found himself a bit sad, not being able to hold on to the sparkling anymore, but knew it was for the best. He waited patiently outside the medbay for Ratchet to finish the check up on the sparkling.

Drift didn’t know how much time had passed before Ratchet said he could come in. Optimus, Prowl, Rodimus, and Jazz were already inside, seemingly debating over something.

“The sparkling?” Drift asked Ratchet.

“He’s fine, now.” Ratchet said. “He wasn’t injured but he was running extremely low on fuel. That’s likely why he was so relaxed on the way back.”

“But he’s fueled up now, right?”

“Of course he is.” Ratchet said, rolling his eyes. “You think I’d just let the kid starve?”

“No, no.” Drift shook his head quickly. “I knew he would be safe in your hands. I’m just happy Primus watched over him until we were able to get him to you.”

Ratchet scoffed.

“Right, because Primus fueled the little bitlet and got him here.” He snarked, shaking his head. Drift looked about ready to insist that Primus had indeed been watching over the sparkling, but he held his tongue. “Anyways, there’s nothing wrong with him, but there’s some issues in general we’re trying to work out.”

Drift looked over at the group, still chatting away.

“I can’t stress this enough: _there’s a war going on._ ” Prowl was saying. “Megatron’s been injuring more of us with every battle and he’s been going out of his way to be more destructive lately. This is no place for a sparkling.”

“What are we supposed to do with it then?” Rodimus asked, seeming irritated. “Send it off into space and go ‘tough luck buddy’ cuz that’ll go real well.”

“I’m not suggesting we abandon it,”

“But you aren’t suggesting we keep it safe, either!”

Drift and Ratchet exchanged a look, one that said pretty clearly that neither particularly wanted to get involved with this discussion. Drift pointed towards the sparkling, wordlessly asking if he could go check on it himself, and Ratchet nodded. He envied the speedster’s ability to get out of this conversation. Ratchet knew it was only a matter of time before he himself was dragged into it.

“The sparkling is unable to defend itself, and contacting one of our ships just to transfer the sparkling would be too much of a risk.” Optimus spoke up this time, “I believe it is safest with us.”

“Who will care for it then?” Prowl asked, “We’re all busy with the war, no one has the time--”

“Drift and I found it, we can take care of it.” Rodimus offered.

“Rodimus, you can barely take care of yourself, how are you going to take care of a sparkling.” Ratchet said, not really caring that Rodimus was glaring at him now. “He needs someone _responsible_ to care for him.”

“So, someone like you?” Prowl offered.

Ratchet nearly choked.

“No! _No,_ I’m not playing caretaker for this sparkling!”

Optimus sighed, closing his optics. He was getting a headache.

“I can be the sparkling’s primary caretaker.” He offered, catching everyone’s attention. “But raising this sparkling will be a group effort, whether some of us are glad to hear it or not.”

“So we all get to play sire, then?” Rodimus asked.

“In a sense. The sparkling will be impressionable and rely on all of us to step up and teach it how to be the best bot it can be. We all have something unique we can teach this sparkling.” Optimus said, trying to sound optimistic.

“So, in a way, he’s not just any _one_ bot’s sparkling. He’s the _Autobot’s_ sparkling, is what you’re saying.” Jazz deduced. “I can dig it.”

“It’s...acceptable.” Prowl muttered.

Rodimus grinned, looking over to where Drift was with the sparkling. He eagerly went to his friends side,

“Hear that Drift? We’re kinda like caretakers after all!” Rodimus paused despite his enthusiasm though, giving Optimus a curious look. “Hey, he kinda needs a name if we’re gonna keep him.”

“Yes, he does.” Optimus agreed, nodding. “It may take some time to find a designation appropriate for him…”

Which was thinly veiled code for _“I have no idea what to name him”_ and everyone in the room knew that. Rodimus hummed and nudged Drift.

“You found the sparkling. How about you name it?”

“I don’t think--” Drift began, but was cut off by Optimus.

“If you would like to, I see no harm in giving you that honor.”

Drift looked at Optimus with wide optics, surprised, but he nodded eagerly all the same. He allowed himself to smile, and looked down at the little sparkling in his hands. Rodimus leaned against him, obviously trying to think up ideas too.

“He’s yellow, like Bumblebee.” Rodimus said.

“Yeah but he’s a little darker he’s got those green bits too.” Drift considered the little bot for a moment. “His colors remind me of a sunflower.”

“Oh! I see it!” Rodimus said, smiling brightly. “He’s a little sunflower, how cute! Think that should be his name then?”

Drift considered it. He personally liked the idea of naming the sparkling after a flower. Flowers were nice, and nature felt peaceful. But what if the sparkling grew up and didn’t like nature or flowers?

“Maybe something a little different. I like ‘Sun’ as a base though.” Drift thought about it for a moment. “How about...Sunbeat?”

“I like it!” Rodimus said, then looked towards Optimus. “What do you think?”

“Sunbeat.” Optimus repeated, having the faintest smile on his face. He nodded, walking over to the two speedsters and the sparkling, leaning down to greet the newest addition to his team. To his family. “Welcome to your new home, Sunbeat.”

**Author's Note:**

> It took everything in me not to use Prowl's Animated personality. The series grows!! Technically this takes place a little further into Ignite timeline-wise, but it really doesn't matter since there's no spoilers and we won't know what the Autobots are up to during the events in that fic. Sunbeat will return in the Avengers--


End file.
